Ex-Irish international paracyclist, James Brown, climbed onto the roof of a plane and glued himself to the aircraft during an Extinction Rebellion protest, a court hearing has been told.
Brown, now aged 56 years, was a bronze medal winner for Ireland at the Paralympics in 2012. He said he had staged the protest in a bid to generate media attention for the climate crisis; something he said was receiving little coverage at the time in 2019.
Brown, who is registered as blind, climbed onto a British Airways plane on the morning of October 10th, 2019, at London City Airport. He then superglued his hand to the aircraft, which was bound for Amsterdam; live streaming his action in the Extinction Rebellion video below.
He also wedged his mobile phone in the door of the plane to prevent it from closing. The details of the incident emerged at Southwark Crown Court today. Brown, who flew to many destinations himself when competing internationally, represented Britain before declaring for Ireland.
Advertisement
He won two gold medals, in athletics, at the Paralympic Games in 1984 and later declared for Ireland, as he was born in Northern Ireland. He won bronze for Ireland in the TT at the London Paralympics.
Related News
His court hearing was told his actions affected about 300
passengers on the day and had cost about £40,000. He was freed from the top of
the plane by firefighters after about an hour and was arrested, with his case
only coming to court today after almost two years.
He was convicted on one count of causing a public nuisance after representing himself in court. He will be sentenced at a later date.
In 2016 Brown was banned from competing for 2½ years after failing to give a sample for dope testing. The testers called to his house the day after he had resigned from the Irish set-up and the anti doping authorities accepted he had not taken any banned substance.
Instead, he was starting a new job on the morning the testers called and was also leaving the house with his partner and children. He said if he stopped to give samples, everyone would be late for work and school.
He later explained that was a rash decision, which he regretted, adding he was completely anti doping. That stance was accepted by the authorities in Ireland.
However, the anti doping authorities were left with no option under the rules but to impose a ban, despite believing he was a truthful person who had not taken any banned substance.
Topics
